Many devices and systems are known to monitor the position and movements of individuals. Employers use devices to monitor employees against diversion from work-related locations, and such devices may be installed in work vehicles, attached to accessories such as computers, or comprise other GPS enabled devices. In addition, in the case of house arrest, the offender must often carry a body-worn device to permit position monitoring. The monitoring of individuals may take either active or passive forms. An active system will compare its location with ongoing restrictions to detect violations. Such a violation may occur by either coming into broadcast range of a prohibited zone, leaving broadcast range of a confinement zone, or by actual location determination and mapping against both permitted and exclusion zones. Alternatively, passive devices may simply record and transmit location information for later or real time comparison with permitted and excluded zones at a remote system.
Many devices have been proposed and employed for such uses. Among the most common are multi-component systems. Such systems typically include a wearable radio frequency (RF) bracelet that communicates with some type of base device. This may be a fixed base system with access to a telephone line that places a telephone call to a monitoring service anytime the RF signal is not detected. Alternatively, it may be a portable base equipped with GPS location technology that detects the presence of the bracelet RF signal and also tracks movements and periodically communicates, typically through wireless phone technology, to report those locations. These devices may also have the capability of displaying text messages from the monitoring officer or agency on an LCD screen. Some base attachments have attempted to utilize voice recognition technology to provide verification of the identity of a person present and responding to a phone call placed through the base unit.
Generally absent from these systems is the ability for real time or near real time communication directly between a remote system and the locator device associated with the individual. In addition, the component costs of custom devices is unnecessarily high compared to the prices available for mass market cellular telephone and GPS technology. Many systems require dedicated phone lines, require the monitored individual to wear or carry obtrusive hardware, require additional hardware for monitoring personnel, lack adequate battery life for multi-day usage, are subject to drift due to GPS signal errors, and lack a method for confirming receipt of messages sent between monitoring personnel and a monitored individual.
Accordingly, there is a need for an individual tracking system that can be deployed with software capable of running on a wide variety of devices and is therefore largely device agnostic.
There is also a need for an individual tracking system that does not require the use of dedicated phone lines or obtrusive hardware. There is also a need to provide real time or active tracking and active notification to monitoring personnel.
There is a further need for a system with easily configurable rules and with easily updated and connected location data.
There is an additional need to provide a method for shorter response times to alarm conditions than can be economically provided by municipal police and private security services.